The Adult Education Survey PILOT SURVEY : DEVELOPMENT, RESULTS AND PLANS FOR DISSEMINATION Sadiq Kwesi BOATENG Eurostat – European Commission Meeting of the LLL2010 Project Group January 2009, Dublin Ireland

Policy demands for data on adult education Discussions in the 1980s both at national, Community and international level EU policy on education and training based on articles 149 and 150 of the EC Treaty. Lisbon Objectives 2000: - the European Union to become the world’s most dynamic knowledge-based economy. Achieving lifelong learning for everyone is among the key elements to achieve the objective – develop skills for the knowledge society and economy, for today’s and future labour market Barcelona 2002 European Council – followed up by Council resolution on lifelong learning

Content of the AES pilot The AES in the participating countries focused on the following parameters: Participation in formal, non-formal and informal education (FED, NFE, INF) Non-participation and obstacles to participation in training Participation in FED, NFE and INF activities by field of education/learning Share of the job related NFE Volume of instruction hours in FED and NFE Employer financing and costs of learning in FED and NFE Module on language and ICT skills of the population Module on social and cultural participation of the population

Formal, non formal education and informal learning Formal education is education provided in a system of schools, colleges, universities and other formal educational institutions and normally intended to lead to a certification. Examples are secondary and vocational courses, degree and postgraduate courses. Non Formal Education is organised and sustained educational activity that takes place both within and outside educational institutions. Depending on country contexts, it may cover educational programmes to impart adult literacy, basic education for out of school children, life-skills, work-skills, and general culture. Informal learning is intentional, but less organised and less structured and may include for example learning events (activities) that occur in the family, in the work place, and in the daily life of every person, on a self-directed, family-directed or socially directed basis. Examples are the use of computers, printed materials, television programmes to acquire knowlwdge

Learning activities Formal education Non formal education Informal learning Random learning

Methodology Proposed EU standard questionnaire and classification of activities. Also standardised tools for validating data and a standard quality reporting format. Different schema for sampling: Simple random, stratified simple random, multi-stage stratified, multi-stage, multi- stratified sampling. Interview: CATI (by telephone), CAPI/PAPI or a combination of the two (computer or paper assisted face to face interview) Proxy interviews allowed in only a few countries Weighting methods by mainly gender and age AES as stand-alone survey in most countries, few included in other surveys (mainly labour force surveys) Reference period for education and training activities - 12 months

Coverage and sample size Coverage: 29 countries from EU, EEC and Candidate countries (- IE and LU). Including Croatia, Turkey, Norway and Switzerland. Sample sizes and target population: More than one out of every 100 in Cyprus included. Lowest sample fraction in the UK and Germany. Common reference period 2007 but spread over period 2005 to 2008.

< >50

More females In relative terms More males

Participation in Formal & Non-Formal by educational attainment (%), AES Max. Lower Secondary Upper Secondary Tertiary Larger relative difference PLGRHULTITLVSKCYATBGDEEEESFRFINOUKSE

GR PL HU SE UK FI FR

Participation (Formal & Non-Formal) by employment status (%) SEATNOESFIUKDEGRITCYFRHULVEEPLLTSKBG Employed Unemployed Inactive Relative difference between the employed and the others Larger differences

AES results ICT 2: Do you normally use a computer? (Source: Eurostat, forthcoming)

AES results LG 41: Description of the first language knowledge (excl. mother tongue) (Source: Eurostat, forthcoming)

RESULTS – PARTICIPATION RATES IN FED Significant country differences 2.3 % % Average of 17 EU countries: 6.1% Systematic higher rates compared with LFS-2003 General high rates among women High rates among younger age groups Higher rates among those with tertiary education Unemployed and inactive participate more High rates among highly skilled white collar jobs More participation in densely populated areas

RESULTS – PARTICIPATION IN NFE High rates of participation ranging from 6.8 % to 69.4 % Average of 17 EU countries: 32.5 % Systematic higher rates compared with LFS-2003 No significant gender differences Less differences among age groups Respondents with higher education participate more High rates among the employed Highly skilled white collar holders participate more No significant differences in degree of urbanisation

Dissemination of AES results Results from 18 countries were published in Nov 2009 Data can be found on Eurostat’s website: -> switch to ‘data’ mode and click on the following headings: -> Education and Training -> Training -> Adult education survey Statistics in Focus articles on the results are expected to be published in February/March 2009 Presentation of results in various international meetings on education, employment, life long learning and adult skills Micro-data will be made available for research

MICRO-DATA INFORMATION 29 countries in the pilot survey between Criteria for anonymisation agreed by all partners Data from first 18 countries will be available Feb 2009 Countries: AT, BG, CY, DE, EE, ES, FI, FR, GR, HU, IT, LT, LV, NO, PL, SE, SK, UK, Data from the rest of the countries will be gradually added. Completed data set expected by end of 2009 Cost of completed dataset: €200 All interested researchers will be informed on when and how to apply for the data when ready

APPROVED CRITERIA Household – all technical variables to be dropped Month of survey – recoding into quarter of interview Number of persons in household – aggregated into 4 age categories 0-5, 6-18, and 65 and older Nationality – aggregated into 3 groups Country of birth – aggregated into 3 groups Highest level of education – regrouping of ISCED 5/6 Activity – Aggregation of NACE2D at digit 1 level Occupation - ISCO2 at 2 digits

Further work Publication of remaining results of pilot AES including –More countries –More indicators –Micro-data for research purposes until end of Preparation of the next AES surveys to take place in 2011 or Preparation of a Commission Regulation. Funding secured. Methodological improvements, - further harmonisation. - Thank you very much for your attention -